You're On The Clock: Xavier Worthy, Courtland Sutton, Rome Odunze?
You've entered your league draft. The clock is ticking. The pace of the draft is starting to pick up. Everyone is making their selections with relative ease. Next thing you know, you're on deck. And finally, you're on the clock. But you're at a crossroads. There are three wide receivers to choose between who will play for your fantasy team this season. The three receivers in question are Kansas City Chiefs rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy, Denver Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton, and Chicago Bears rookie wide receiver Rome Odunze.
These three wide receivers are going in the mid-to-late rounds of your fantasy drafts. According to Fantasy Football Calculator, Worthy (7.12), Odunze (7.05), and Sutton (10.07) are where each is currently being drafted. But which receiver is the best receiver to take? I'll go over each wide receiver, their offense, and situation and then decide who I would take in this scenario.
Should He Be Worthy
Xavier Worthy has one of the more unique situations fantasy managers should consider when eyeing the Chiefs wideout. Yes, he has the best quarterback in the league, throwing him the ball in Patrick Mahomes. Worthy does have the talent and speed to get open and help bring back that deep threat that was lacking from the Chiefs offense last season. The issue is his potential usage. Worthy could see an immediate role in the Chiefs offense this season as he continues to turn heads during camp and has gained praise from Patrick Mahomes on his progress. We still don't know whether or not Rashee Rice will be suspended this season, and that decision could determine whether Worthy will get even more playing time.
Rice was tied at 55% snap share with Marquez Valdez-Scantling last season. With MVS gone, now playing in Buffalo Marquise Brown is in the starting lineup at the wide receiver position. The trio of Brown, Rice, and Worthy could be the new standard for wide receiver for the Chiefs this season. With an offense that boasts some of the most pass attempts in the league, Worthy could eat this season should he garner a substantial target share. Marquise Brown's recent injury during the preseason could also impact Worthy's playing time and snaps should he miss time early in the season.
When In Rome...
The Chicago Bears wide receiver Rome Odunze was one of my favorite rookie wideouts coming out of the draft. But the Chicago Bears did make a concerted effort to add to the mix by trading for Keenan Allen and they already have DJ Moore on the roster too.
Fantasy managers should remember that the Bears invested a top-10 pick in the 2024 NFL draft to get Odunze. To me, that signals that they aren't just going to waste Odunze but he will have a significant role right out of the gate. DJ Moore and Keenan Allen are older receivers, and the latter has struggled to stay healthy during the season. Over the last two seasons, Allen has missed 11 games due to injury. That kind of injury risk could rear its ugly head again this season as Allen enters 32 years of age. Allen also is signed just for the 2024 season while Moore has recently agreed to a new contract extension highlighting that Allen may not be in the long-term plans of the Chicago Bears.
Odunze is the future and what better way for the rookie wide receiver to cement himself in the offense than right out the gate as one of the top options for Caleb Williams to build with?
The Rookies And Now The Vet
The Denver Broncos enter the season with the offense in flux. Russell Wilson is gone. The quarterback situation isn't ideal, with Jarrett Stidham currently being listed as the QB1. You still have quarterbacks Zach Wilson and rookie quarterback Bo Nix looming. Sutton enters the 2024 season as the top option for the Broncos passing attack. Sutton could see more work as the most reliable option with Jerry Jeudy being traded to the Cleveland Browns. That trade frees up 87 targets back to the pool. Courtland Sutton led all Broncos receivers with just 90 targets last season. Another positive is that he (somehow) found 10 touchdowns with those limited targets.
Sutton will still command the lion's share of targets out of the wide receiver group for the 2024 season, regardless of how the quarterback situation finally shakes out as we get closer to week 1. Sutton provided fantasy managers with nearly 12 FPPG last season. If the offense looks better this season with an established quarterback with Sean Payton not fussing at players on the sidelines, the Broncos may be able to turn the page on the offensive issues they've had in recent years.
The Decision
With these guys on the table and their situations looked over, here's how I would rank these players in terms of who would be the priority. As it stands, it would look like this:
- Xavier Worthy
- Rome Odunze
- Courtland Sutton
In my opinion, Worthy and Odunze are closer. Both receivers may be rookies, but their circumstances could have had great outcomes this season. Both have promising quarterbacks to catch passes from in Patrick Mahomes and Caleb Williams with the former being more established (and on a bounce-back path this season). The competition surrounding these rookies is also not as bad as initially perceived. Sure, both guys may start slow out of the gate but both receivers are players that you won't want to be fighting for on the waiver wire later on in the season. You'll want to have either rookie receiver stashed somewhere on your bench. Both have better paths to production as well. Worthy and Odunze should be placed as immediate starters on their respective teams even with other players in their respective groups seeing plenty of snaps.
As mentioned earlier in this article, should Marquise Brown miss time during the beginning of the season, Worthy will be thrust into a bigger role. And should Rashee Rice's suspension come down along the same time, Worthy would likely jump to being the top receiving option behind Travis Kelce (because I know you didn't forget about him, right?). Odunze is the receiver that may start a bit slower than Worthy because DJ Moore and Keenan Allen are more established than receivers on the Chiefs roster. Again, the Bears didn't spend a top-10 draft pick to let Odunze sit on the shelf. Odunze is the long-term investment and it would be imperative to get him going in the offense with Caleb Williams, another player the Bears made a long-term investment with their first overall pick. Odunze can also play out of the slot which should allow him to be used all over the field.
Sutton is by far the worse option of the three. While he is a veteran player, the Broncos offense and quarterback situation are by far the biggest detractors for the fantasy football season. Despite being the New England Patriots fourth-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, Stidham has started just four games to this point. Should Stidham's start be cut short due to his performance, Zach Wilson or rookie quarterback Bo Nix would be next in line. We've all seen what Zach Wilson did with the Jets over the last two seasons and Nix is still an unknown. That carousel of quarterbacks doesn't inspire confidence even with Sutton's cheap draft price. The Broncos finished 19th in total offense last season being ranked 28th in pass attempts with 513, 18th in rushing yards, and 19th in points per game with 21. The Broncos could be even worse this season when it's all said and done.
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